Penny Brannigan Books In Publication Order
- The Cold Light of Mourning (2009)
- A Brush with Death (2010)
- A Killer’s Christmas in Wales (2011)
- A Small Hill to Die On (2012)
- Never Laugh As a Hearse Goes By (2013)
- Slated for Death (2015)
- Murder on the Hour (2016)
- Murder Is for Keeps (2017)
- The Marmalade Murders (2018)
- Remembering the Dead (2019)
- On Deadly Tides (2020)
Shakespeare in the Catskills Mystery Books In Publication Order
- Untimely Death (2015)
- Ill Met by Murder (2016)
- Much Ado About Murder (2017)
Penny Brannigan Book Covers
Shakespeare in the Catskills Mystery Book Covers
Elizabeth J. Duncan Books Overview
The Cold Light of Mourning
Elizabeth J. Duncan spins a charming tale of murder and intrigue in this winning first novel.
The picturesque North Wales market town of Llanelen is shocked when Meg Wynne Thompson, a self made beauty who has turned out to be something of an unpopular bride, goes missing on her wedding day and turns up dead. The last person believed to have seen her is manicurist Penny Brannigan, an expatriate Canadian who has lived in North Wales for almost twenty five years. When Penny notices that something is not quite right at the funeral of her dearest friend, she becomes emotionally invested in the case, and sets out to investigate.
It seems that several people, including the bride’s drunken, abusive father, had reasons to wish Meg dead, but when the trail leads to her groom s home, an explosive secret will shake the small town.
With its bucolic Welsh setting and vivid, colorful characters, this mystery is sure to delight the most discerning of traditional mystery fans.
A Brush with Death
When Penny Brannigan inherits a charming, old fashioned cottage in the North Wales town of Llanelen, she soon realizes she has come into more than what real estate agents like to describe as a desirable period property: She’s also acquired memories, mystery, and an unsolved, decades old crime. As Penny sorts through the belongings of her benefactor, a deceased teacher, she comes upon a packet of letters from a promising young Liverpool artist, A. Jones, who was killed in an accident in 1970. An artist herself, Penny sets out to discover who killed this painter, and is helped by a small group of townsfolk, including her business partner, Victoria Hopkirk. While at a retrospective art exhibition in Liverpool, Penny recognizes what she believes to be a watercolor painted by Jones. But it is attributed to another artist, leading her to suspect that art theft was at the heart of the case, and that Jones s death was no accident. In her eagerly awaited sequel Duncan wonderfully revisits the bustling Welsh town and vibrant characters introduced in The Cold Light of Mourning. With its lyrical prose and tantalizing puzzle, this new mystery is a treat on many levels.
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